So basically, I'm going to start saving up money for a new "headless box" or whatever.

As far as price range goes, I'm looking for something around 800-1000 USD, but no more than 1200 USD.

This will be my primary gaming computer for WoW (60+ FPS in 25 man raids with medium-high GFX and perhaps fraps), SC2 (Max settings 60+ FPS), LoL (Medium-high settings), TF2 (medium-high settings) and maybe some newer shooters (BF3, etc.) if the rig can handle it. If not, no biggie. I don't want to break the bank on something I could just play on console.

There's just a minor price difference between the 660 and 560, I would + anoter 40$~ for the 660.

You should really look at SSDs, it doesn't have to be big, just 60/120gb for windows + maybe a few games/programs. (personally I would go for a 1TB Black HDD + 120GB SSD instead of a 3TB Green HDD, it's like 50$ more but it's worth it.)

I'm kind of noob at this stuff, so forgive me if what I'm linking qualifies me for downs. I try to research and make sure I know what I'm doing, but I'm kind of slow, so forgive me. I really appreciate the help.

Anyways, how are those? Any better? My friend also has a 650W power supply he may give me, so I may not need to buy one, but just in case, I want to have something lined up.

Quick Edit: Price now comes out to around 1050 USD and some change. Do-able. <3

400W might be a tad bit on the low end for a 660, especially if you plan in jamming in a lot of HDDs or random peripherals. Barring insane levels of overclocking, it'll work. 450 almost certainly will. Ivy Bridge chips are pretty low power.

Same price, better quality PSU, will likely be quieter, generate better quality power (less likely to freak out your computer's internals), and it'll be more efficient. Less chance of a dud too.

2) Hyper 212+ is basically the same as hyper 212evo, only cheaper I believe.

3) Unless you absolutely need the features & ports on that mobo, you could probably get one for ~$60 cheaper that will perform basically the same.

Yea that's all I got, everything else looks pretty solid.

Depending on your monitor size, a 660 should be easily enough for BF3. Keep in mind that no processor on the consumer market can get SC2 to 60+FPS all the time under late game big army conditions, shit's just not gonna happen. Sorry. You'll get like 300 FPS in early game, but then the complete lack of properly done parallelization will rear its ugly head and one of your CPU cores will get raped.

"Who, after all, is today speaking of the destruction of the Armenians?"

400W might be a tad bit on the low end for a 660, especially if you plan in jamming in a lot of HDDs or random peripherals. Barring insane levels of overclocking, it'll work. 450 almost certainly will. Ivy Bridge chips are pretty low power.

Same price, better quality PSU, will likely be quieter, generate better quality power (less likely to freak out your computer's internals), and it'll be more efficient. Less chance of a dud too.

2) Hyper 212+ is basically the same as hyper 212evo, only cheaper I believe.

3) Unless you absolutely need the features & ports on that mobo, you could probably get one for ~$60 cheaper that will perform basically the same.

Yea that's all I got, everything else looks pretty solid.

Depending on your monitor size, a 660 should be easily enough for BF3. Keep in mind that no processor on the consumer market can get SC2 to 60+FPS all the time under late game big army conditions, shit's just not gonna happen. Sorry. You'll get like 300 FPS in early game, but then the complete lack of properly done parallelization will rear its ugly head and one of your CPU cores will get raped.

1. Realistically, I suppose I wont be using full graphics settings for SC2 Ladder games, so I suppose that isn't a problem. I took your advice on replacing the power supply, what do you think of this? http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817703036

If you think 450W is pushing it with my GPU, I don't mind paying the 40$ or the extra power. Better to have an not use than not have and need.

2. I'll look into it.

3. Currently looking at options. That MoBo looks pretty solid though, and I don't mind paying the extra as long as I don't have to pay for extra random shit later. (soundcard, etc.)

I slightly overstepped your 1k limit before any discounts or MIR but I crammed more stuff into this list

Took your advice on the SSD. Thanks for the site btw. Even though I'm not quite that worried about the 1's and 2's, that will definitely help when I have the money in hand.

I was looking at the MoBo you linked, and while everything looked good, I saw one review where a guy had to grab a soundcard because the onboard one was garbage. I really don't want to purchase a soundcard because I prefer USB mics, but I'll keep looking into it. Thanks!

1. Realistically, I suppose I wont be using full graphics settings for SC2 Ladder games, so I suppose that isn't a problem. I took your advice on replacing the power supply, what do you think of this? http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817703036

If you think 450W is pushing it with my GPU, I don't mind paying the 40$ or the extra power. Better to have an not use than not have and need.

400W might be a bit low, 450W is enough for a 660. 600W is overkill (though if you needed 600W, that would be a good PSU to buy).

Cruizex, on 14 December 2012 - 11:13 AM, said:

3. Currently looking at options. That MoBo looks pretty solid though, and I don't mind paying the extra as long as I don't have to pay for extra random shit later. (soundcard, etc.)

Sorry, I should have been more specific. Unless you are going to do one of the following:

1) Use 4 SSDs at the same time (you aren't)
2) Use a dual gpu setup (you aren't, because that'd be pointless with a mid-range card)
3) Use >2 USB 3.0 external drives at the same time
4) Use the built in wifi (maybe? - but hardly worth the $$ by itself)
5) Try to hook in greater than 5.1 chanel surround (unless you already have a high quality set of 7.1 speakers and receiver this really doesn't apply)

It's pretty much a waste of money compared to the -lx version.

"Who, after all, is today speaking of the destruction of the Armenians?"

400W might be a bit low, 450W is enough for a 660. 600W is overkill (though if you needed 600W, that would be a good PSU to buy).

Sorry, I should have been more specific. Unless you are going to do one of the following:

1) Use 4 SSDs at the same time (you aren't)
2) Use a dual gpu setup (you aren't, because that'd be pointless with a mid-range card)
3) Use >2 USB 3.0 external drives at the same time
4) Use the built in wifi (maybe? - but hardly worth the $$ by itself)
5) Try to hook in greater than 5.1 chanel surround (unless you already have a high quality set of 7.1 speakers and receiver this really doesn't apply)

It's pretty much a waste of money compared to the -lx version.

After talking with some a friend about it, supposedly even upgrading from the 560 to the 660 is going to bottleneck my processor, so I may upgrade the GPU by another 100$. I'm not completely sure at what I'm looking at as far as anything past the 560 and 660 goes, but if I were to go with a bigger graphics card, would the 600W be applicable then?

What the bottleneck is depends almost entirely on what game you're playing. For single player BF3, all that really matters is GPU. Even if you spend $1200 in only GPUs, you'll still be bottlenecked on GPU. For SC2, all that really matters is CPU. Even if you spend $1200 on CPUs, you'll still be bottlenecked on CPU.

Depends on the card, but a 520W Seasonic should be all you need even up to like a GTX 680.

mobo: yea that or the lx one

"Who, after all, is today speaking of the destruction of the Armenians?"

What the bottleneck is depends almost entirely on what game you're playing. For single player BF3, all that really matters is GPU. Even if you spend $1200 in only GPUs, you'll still be bottlenecked on GPU. For SC2, all that really matters is CPU. Even if you spend $1200 on CPUs, you'll still be bottlenecked on CPU.

Depends on the card, but a 520W Seasonic should be all you need even up to like a GTX 680.